Merchandise display assembly and structural unit for use therewith



May 1965 E. o. BARTOLUCCI 3,184,073

MECHANDISE DISPLAY ASSEMBLY AND STRUCTURAL UNIT FOR USE THEREWITH Filed July 17, 1963 INVENTOR.

Enigm- 0 Bark/aw United States Patent Filed July 17, 1963, Ser. No. 295,650 2 Claims. (Cl. 211-132) This invention relates generally to advertising and merchandising displays, and has particular reference to dis play assemblies featuring one or more cartons. Coordinately, the invention relates to a novel structural unit for use in forming such displays.

It is a general object to provide a simple, inexpensive, but highly eifective means for building up a wide variety of display assemblies of knock-down type, each display featuring at least one corrugated-board carton, preferably a multiple number of identical cartons. The cartons employed may be of any desired size but the invention is primarily intended for use in advertising and displaying cartons of the type in which bottled goods are customarily packed, either singly or in groups. Each carton is rectangular, having one long dimension and two short dimensions. The invention aims to display such cartons in a slanted disposition, supported upon triangular prismatic units of special character. When a plurality of cartons are employed, interesting attention-getting stacks of attractive character, highly effective from an advertising standpoint, can be readily formed.

The special prismatic unit forming part of the display comprises a pair of triangular walls in spaced parallel relation and a pair of rectangular connecting Walls extending between them, each triangular wall conforming in outline to a right-angle triangle in which one of the short sides has a length equal to that of a short dimension of the carton. Each connecting wall has a length equal to the other short dimension of the carton. The connecting walls extend only between the short sides of the triangular walls, leaving the hypothenuse sides disconnected, thus defining a triangular prism of hollow character. The triangular walls are preferably 45-degree isosceles triangles, and they are preferably composed of corrugated board having smooth-faced outer plies.

These units are employed by placing them on a horizontal surface in side by side relation, with the short sides up, whereby a series of adjacent right-angled troughs are provided, adapted to receive the cartons with their long dimensions extending upward in an oblique direction. The cartons are so placed that they lie in contacting l adjacence to one another. Thus their upper ends define a new array of right-angled troughs into which additional cartons may be placed, slanted the other way. The effect is of particularly striking nature when the triangular units are 45-degree triangles, and the long dimension of the carton is exactly twice the length of one or both of the short dimensions.

The display assembly also preferably includes U-shaped connecting staples having pointed ends, employed so as to extend through adjacent walls to hold adjacent elements of the stacked assembly together.

By supporting one or more of the prismatic units upon a slanting wall or walls of the stacked cartons, with the open hypothenuse up, a desirable enhanced display effect is produced since items of merchandise can be placed directly into any such unit.

One way of achieving these objects and advantages is illustrated by way of example in the accompanying drawings, in which FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of one of the special triangular prismatic support units;

FIGURE 2 shows three such units placed side by side ddd ifiili Patented May 18, 1965 ice on a horizontal surface and connected by special U- shaped staples;

FIGURE 3 is an enlarged fragmentary cross-sectional View along the line 3-3 of FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 4 is a perspective view of a carton of the type for which the units of FIGURE 2 are intended; and

FIGURE 5 is an elevational view of an illustrative display assembly.

The hollow triangular prism shown in FIG. 1 is composed of conventional three-ply corrugated board comprising a central sinuous layer and outer smooth-faced layers sandwiching it between them. At the edges of the unit one or both of the outer plies is turned over to cover the intermediate layer. The triangular walls are parallel to each other, and have been shown as 45-degree isosceles triangles, i.e., the shorter sides 11 are equal in length and the angle between them is a right angle. Rectangular connecting walls 12 extend between the shorter sides, but the hypothenuse sides 13 are not connected.

The illustrative rectangular carton 14 shown in FIG. 4 is of the kind for which the structural unit of FIG. 1 is designed. The carton 14 is usually composed of conventional corrugated board, but any other readily pierceable material may be employed. The customarily-used carton has a long dimension 15 usually (and preferably) about twice as long as one of the short dimensions 16 or 17. One of the short edges, e.g., the one designated 16, is equal in length to one of the short sides 11 of the supporting unit. The other short edge 17 is equal in length to the distance between the triangular walls 10, i.e., to the lengths of the connecting walls 12. In the display assembly chosen for illustration, since the triangles involved are isosceles, both sets of short sides 11 are equal to the short dimension 16 of the carton.

To build up a typical mass display of the character contemplated by the invention, a plurality (e.g., three) of the prismatic units are first placed upon a horizontal supporting surface in an adjacent array, as shown by the units 9 in FIG. 2, with the short sides of the units up. This allows the connecting walls 12 to define a series of right-angled troughs.

In order to maintain the elements in position, special U-shaped connecting staples 18 having pointed ends 19 (preferably one longer than the other) are pierced into operative positions as indicated in FIG. 3. Stability of the assembly can best be assured by employing two staples for each purpose, one at the front (such as those visible in FIG. 2) and one at the rear.

Cartons 14 are then set into the troughs, and in the illustrative display assembly shown in FIG. 5 three such cartons (designated 20) are arranged in contacting relation. The one at the right may be rested against the outermost short wall 12 of the end supporting unit 9, this wall serving as the equivalent of a trough, but if desired an additional triangular unit may be set into position as indicated by dot-and-dash lines 27 to lend added support.

The contact between the slanting cartons 29 is established by arranging them with the dimension 16 in the plane of each triangular wall ll! of the triangular supporting unit 9. To hold the cartons in position staples 21, like the one shown in FIG. 3, are pierced into place as indicated.

A second group of cartons 22 is then rested upon the first set, slanting in the opposite direction. Staples 23 help to hold them in proper position.

Another carton could be placed on top, but to show the possibility of utilizing one of the special triangular units as a receptacle, FIG. 5 shows a triangular unit 24 arranged in the uppermost trough (formed by the cartons (b 22) with the open hypothenuse side up. Staples 25 help to hold it in place. Merchandise items 26 may be placed in it.

More than one of the units can be caused to serve as receptacles, if desired. Possible arrangements are indicated by dot-and-dash lines 28 in FIG. 5, staples being employed to establish the desired connections.

'Under some circumstances a display placard (not shown) may be used to advantage, by mounting it on a special pointed rod or staff whose lower end can be pierced into position in a manner similar to the way in which the U-shaped staples are inserted.

Each stacked assembly can be dismantled with ease, by merely withdrawing the connecting staples, and the same supporting units, along with some or all of the cartons, or with others as well, can be re-used or rearranged a number of times.

Obviously fewer or more cartons than those shown in FIG. can be stacked, if desired, and a variety of different attention-getting displays can be formed. It will be understood, also, that many of the details described and illustrated may be modified Without necessarily departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as eX- pressed in the appended claims.

What is claimed is: g

1. A knock-down merchandise display assembly comprising a multiple number of identical rectangular corrugated-board cartons each having one long and two short dimensions, and a multiple number of hollow triangular prismatic units each defined by a pair of triangular corrugated-board walls in spaced parallel relation and a pair of rectangular connecting walls extending between them,

each triangular wall conforming in outline to a 45-degree isosceles triangle in which each of the short sides has a length equal to that of a short dimension of the carton, said connecting Walls extending only between the short sides of the triangular walls leaving the hypothenuse sides disconnected, each connecting wall having a length equal to the other short dimension of the carton, a plurality of said units lying side by side on a horizontal surface with the short sides up to define a series of right-angled troughs, said cartons being supported in said troughs with their long dimensions slanting upward at 45 degrees to the horizontal, said cartons lying with their short dimensions oriented to allow the cartons to lie in adjacent contact, and U-shaped connecting staples having pointed ends extending through said triangular walls and through selected carton walls to hold adjacent elements of the assembly together.

2. A merchandise display assembly as defined in claim 1, including also at least one of said triangular units supported on a slanting carton wall with its open side up to receive merchandise therein.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 355,833 1/87 Murphy 2111 2,300,412 11/42 Fink 211-133 X 2,407,592 9/46 Wathen 124.1 2,833,074 5/58 Jannes 40l24.l X 2,837,216 6/58 Paige 40--124.1 X 2,914,872 12/59 Goodrich 40-1241 X CLAUDE A. LE ROY, Primary Examiner. 

1. A KNOCK-DOWN MERCHANIDISE DISPLAY ASSEMBLY COMPRISING A MULTIPLE NUMBER OF IDENTICAL RECTANGULAR CORRUGATED-BOARD CARTONS EACH HAVING ONE LONG AND TWO SHORT DIMENSIONS, AND A MULTIPLE MEMBER OF HOLLOW TRIANGULAR PRISMATIC UNITS EACH DEFINED BY A PAIR OF TRIANGULAR CORRUGATED-BOARD WALLS IN SPACED PARALLEL RELATION AND A PAIR OF RECTANGULAR CONNECTING WALL EXTENDING BETWEEN THEM, EACH TRIANGULAR WALL CONFORMING IN OUTLINE TO A 45-DEGREE ISOSCELES TRIANGLE IN WHICH EACH OF THE SHORT SIDES HAS A LENGTH EQUAL TO THAT OF A SHORT DIMENSION OF THE CARTON, SAID CONNECTING WALL EXTENDING ONLY BETWEEN THE SHORT SIDES OF THE TRIANGULAR WALLS LEAVING THE HYPOTHENUSE SIDES DISCONNECTED, EACH CONNECTING WALL HAVING A LENGTH EQUAL 